piers morgan tonight

It's been a week of ups and downs for Piers Morgan. First, he mistook late comedian Patrice O'Neal for a woman (for which he has now apologized.)

Then he's observed with obvious glee as his former nemesis, 'Top Gear' host Jeremy Clarkson, has been vilified in the UK for saying on live television that striking workers should be executed.

Now Morgan has called Herman Cain's lawyer, Lin Wood, "shockingly naive." On last night's 'Piers Morgan Tonight' he quizzed Wood about whether, given the number of accusations against him recently, Cain is fit to be President of the United States.

Piers Morgan has announced that he's quitting 'America's Got Talent' in order to concentrate on his CNN show. Morgan -- who's one of the original judges on the NBC show -- Tweeted "I'm leaving America's Got Talent after 6 wonderful years. Turned out that juggling's harder than it looks, so I'm going to focus on CNN." He then confirmed the news on 'Piers Morgan Tonight,' joking that he's also now available to host the Oscars.

He went on, "Big thanks to NBC, Fremantle, and of course, my friend Simon Cowell, for giving me such a great opportunity. It's been a blast." He also congratulated his colleagues on the show -- Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandel and Nick Cannon: "You don't have to put up with me any more!"

Over the summer there was much drama off-screen as judge Cheryl Cole was booted from the panel after auditions had got underway and was replaced by the show's original co-host, Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger.

Cowell and Scherzinger were guests on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' and he talked candidly about the reasons for Cole's departure: "I was talking to someone about this at the screening the other night and they put it very well -- she looked a bit bewildered."

Cowell -- who says he feels bad about the very public way in which Cole was fired -- added that "I took the view, along with a few other people, that she would have been more comfortable back in the UK."

He also opened up about his hopes for 'The X Factor' and whether it will take down 'American Idol.'

The phone-hacking scandal that's engulfing News Corp.'s assets in the U.K. is threatening to take down another high-profile figure.

The British tabloid 'The Daily Star' is reporting that 'America's Got Talent' judge Piers Morgan may have lost out on a new show he's been developing for CNN.

According to the report, CNN executives have put the the breaks on the new show, as new hacking allegations continue to mount against the former British tabloid editor.

However, a spokesperson for Piers Morgan is pushing back on the story, telling AOL TV that there never was a new show in production, and that 'Piers Morgan Tonight' is not jeopardy.

Sources told the 'Star' that the news-based program would have run in tandem with Morgan's nightly CNN chat show, 'Piers Morgan Tonight,' and that its development was part of the deal he signed back in September 2010 when he took over for Larry King.

CNN has canceled Eliot Spitzer's nightly news show 'In the Arena,' a move that the network announced today in conjunction with additional re-shuffling of their nightly lineup. Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned in disgrace after being caught in a prostitution scandal, used the show as a vehicle for a mainstream comeback, but it never took hold with viewers and consistently struggled for ratings. CNN had tried to re-tool the program, originally launched as 'Parker Spitzer' in the summer of 2010, but the numbers never picked up, and the network decided to cut their losses and move on.

Spitzer reflected on his brief run at CNN in a statement: "We engaged serious people in conversations about national and global issues in a way that was informative and challenging. I believe that we provided diverse and valuable perspectives during the show's tenure."

The accompanying moves will shift 'Anderson Cooper 360' into Spitzer's 8PM slot. 'AC360' will also replay again at 10PM, its current time. 'The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer,' which had previously aired from 5-7PM, will move to 4-6, with 'John King USA' moving to 6, followed by Erin Burnett's as-yet-unnamed new show at 7PM. 'Piers Morgan Tonight' will remain in the 9PM slot.

Chelsea Handler talks a lot about her love of dating "black guys" on her own talk show, so it makes sense that the topic came up when she was on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (Weeknights, 9PM ET on CNN). However, she said her relationship with 50 Cent was little more than a fling.

"I was just sampling kind of the atmosphere and seeing what was out there," she said of that time. "And I'm satiated."

It was all fun and games, until Piers Morgan asked her about her picture on the cover of her new book, 'Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me.' "Airbrushed?" he asked of the black-and-white image.

Osama Bin Laden's former sister-in-law Carmen Bin Laden was on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (weeknights, 9PM ET on CNN). She talked about her notorious surname and why she never changed it, even though she has renounced everything Osama stood for and sympathized with the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I realized earlier on, for myself and my daughter, that there was no escape from that name," she explained.

"Changing it, people would just say 'Oh well, you know they were Bin Laden, they changed their name,'" she continued. "I thought it would be much better to explain where we stand, where our true feelings and our values are."

Matthew Fox has been in London for the last couple months, starring in a West End production of the Neil LeBute play "A Forest Dark and Deep." He was a guest on Wednesday's London edition of 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (weekdays, 9 PM ET on CNN) where the host wanted to get Fox's opinion on the big royal wedding which will take place in the city Friday.

Are you a romantic man?" Morgan wondered, buttering him up.

"I think so, yeah," Fox replied.

"So when the big moment comes, and [Prince William and Kate Middleton] come out on the balcony, and the prepare for what we imagine will be the most viewed kiss in history, will you be feeling a little warm and cuddly inside?"

Legendary TV personality Sir David Frost was close enough with Princess Diana to have her be his son's godmother. So during his appearance on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (weekdays, 9 PM ET on CNN) he was asked what his good friend would have thought about her son's marriage to Kate Middleton.

"I think that she would be thrilled with the choice he's made . . . And I think she would inevitably in the circumstances also -- besides being thrilled -- be filled with the most marvelously irreverent jokes, cause she always was."

As the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton nears, you'll be hearing more and more about how Middleton is a 'commoner.'

Jane Seymour, who will be covering the wedding for 'Entertainment Tonight,' was on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (weekdays, 9 PM ET on CNN), where she and Morgan discussed how being a "commoner" is far from being the insult it would seem.

"Everybody loved [Princess] Diana so much, so to have her eldest son marry a commoner, marry one of their kind, Kate, is very, very special," the British-born Seymour explained.

"People in America tend to think the word commoner is sort of insulting, but it's not at all," British citizen Morgan added. "It's actually -- I think people in Britain are really proud that William has chosen as his wife someone who hasn't been born into pageantry or royalty. She's from an ordinary family."

In 1956, Burnett was student at UCLA when her professor asked her to perform at a black-tie function for credit. After she was done, she began stuffing hors devours into her purse, so she could take them home to her grandmother.

Suddenly she felt a tap on the shoulder. But instead of reprimanding her, the man who got her attention complimented her performance, and asked about her future plans. When she said she wanted to go to New York to pursue a career in theater, he made her a startling offer: $1,000 to help get her relocated there.

Morgan repeatedly pointed out that because many fishermen only conduct business in cash, tit was a struggle to make an evidence-backed claim on lost earnings.

"I don't need the type of documentary evidence that you would get from a big corporation," Feinberg explained. "But I have moral a responsibility to make sure this program isn't simply just come-one, come-all ... Pay me on the basis of a handshake -- I can't do that."

"I think that's a really inappropriate thing for someone to say, especially when what they did together gave that person their career back," Kelly, who is close friends with Miley, said of Billy Ray's remarks. "It's not fair to do that to your own child."

Sharon agreed with Kelly. "I don't think he should have done that in print."

It may have seemed like a publicity stunt at the time, but May-December couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have been together for eight years, and married for almost six.

In their first sit-down interview as a couple, Ashton and Demi spoke about their relationship on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (weekdays, 9PM ET on CNN.) According to Moore, Kutcher is quite romantic, although he has a somewhat unique way of expressing it.

"If you go to our house, I have Post-it Notes placed in various locations all with messages of encouragement or love or just thought. Some have been there seven years," Moore said.